In the aforesaid patents and applications there are disclosed improved apparatus and methods for achieving high adsorption/desorption reaction rates between polar gases and certain metal salts. These adsorption/desorption reactions, often referred to as "absorption" or "chemisorption" in technical literature, yield complex compounds which are the basis for efficient refrigeration, thermal storage, heat pump and power systems having high energy density. The aforesaid disclosed methods result in increased or maximized reaction rates between the gas and the complex compound, i.e., the time it takes to adsorb or desorb a given amount of the gas into or from the complex compound, to yield increased or improved power that can be delivered by the system, i.e., more energy delivered over a period of time, which translates into greater cooling capability of the apparatus. In the aforesaid U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,328,671 and 5,290,231, improved complex compound reactors are disclosed in which the complex compound adsorbents are those created by optimizing the density of the complex compound by limiting its volumetric expansion formed during at least the initial adsorption reaction between the metal salt and the polar gas. The resulting complex compounds are those in which the adsorption and desorption reaction rates are increased as compared to reaction rates using a complex compound formed without restricting the volumetric expansion and controlling the density during such a reaction. The increase in the reaction rates is expressed as an increase in the number of moles of polar gas adsorbed and/or desorbed per mole of the complex compound per hour at adsorption or desorption cycle times of less than 60 minutes. The description of such methods, reactors and complex compounds of the aforesaid patents and applications are incorporated herein by reference.
In the aforesaid application Ser. No. 104,427 there are disclosed further improved methods and apparatus for achieving improved reaction rates incorporating sorption reactors having thermal and mass diffusion path lengths within important defined limits. The reactors and resulting reactions are capable of achieving a maximum power density per mass of adsorbent, maximum power density per mass of reactor and maximum power density per desired or needed reactor volume. The specific reaction parameters and apparatus features and components including heat and mass transfer path length ranges for achieving such results as described in the aforesaid application are incorporated herein by reference.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,161,389 there is disclosed an appliance capable of rapidly cooling or freezing a composition placed in the cooling chamber of the appliance and which apparatus comprises a combination of components including reactors containing complex compounds of ammonia and metal salt. The reactors comprise first and second reactors containing a complex compound of ammonia and a metal salt, an evaporator and a condenser for the ammonia refrigerant, and which appliance is operated by alternately and continuously adsorbing and desorbing the ammonia refrigerant between the reactors via the evaporator and condenser.